I have been working at Maxpoint Interactive full-time (more than 3 years)

Pros

Incredible culture with truly unlimited earning potential. MaxPoint sets fair but challenging goals and pays out no matter how crazy the bonus amounts may seem. Employees at MaxPoint are given a lot of patience to develop and are judged as much by effort and attitude as they are by their immediate results. It's a fun place to work in an industry that is actually growing exponentially year over year.

Cons

Rules and structure are not very prevalent at MaxPoint. There's a lot of decisions being made based on business needs. If you're the type that needs a lot of structure, MaxPoint is not for you. This company is relatively small and especially in sales it's a small family. If you don;t like that dynamic you're probably not going to like it here.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Keep doing what you're doing. Invest in the backend as much as you can. We have a great product in a space that has a tremendous amount of demand. All we need to do is keep performing and keeping our clients happy. We've created a great culture, as we grow we want to make sure that we continue to foster that.

Sure, there are the technology start-up style perks: a fully stocked kitchen, free starbucks, relaxed atmosphere, beautiful work environment, etc. For me, though, the biggest benefit is working with so many crazy smart people. The work is incredibly challenging; we solve hard interesting problems and have broad latitude to figure out how to do it. There are no politics: if you have a good idea, you are encouraged and empowered to implement it.

Also, the company grows incredibly fast. Every employee is an owner and you can see that generates camaraderie as people feel like that are working for each other. I've never worked somewhere with more teamwork than MaxPoint.

Cons

We work hard...you have to be able to find the right work-life balance on your own. Being a very successful start-up means you have more products to build and customers to help than time always allows. You need to be able to prioritize and walk away from your work when you need a break. People who are the most successful at MaxPoint have a good ability to compartmentalize and are conscious of setting boundaries that allow them to have balance. I've had small kids while at MaxPoint and have never had an issue.

Also, success is often rewarded with substantial new responsibilities. Some people might misread this...there isn't room to hide. People who don't embrace this can have a hard time.

Top-notch, intelligent, creative, fun colleagues. Everyone is present and motivated to make progress quickly and efficiently. "That's not my job" mentality doesn't exist here.Work on cutting edge technology in a new and exciting space.Can be a great place to work, but they are not looking for people to stay long-term.

Cons

Maxpoint believes in hiring management externally, and value fresh perspectives over loyalty and hard work. Top level execs are extremely emotional, and unpredictable. Smart, maybe even brilliant but flawed in management style. They believe in isolating "teaching moments", and instilling fear into employees. You never know what will set them off or how they will discredit your work previously praised. Creating friction is another tactic frequently used. In this scenario team leads are pitted against each other in order to inspire a competitive environment. This doesn't produce the best out of your workforce. It makes people on edge and so unhappy they have to convince themselves to get out of their car to walk into the building everyday. Most employees including execs are holding on for the huge payout their stock will produce. If you're joining now you won't get enough stock to make it worth your time.

Have a family or plans to start one? Look elsewhere. Long hours with not much flexibility.

Company makes many empty promises they have no intention of keeping. Don't count on anything they say until you see it in your bank.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Employee morale matters-- you have a great team appreciate them or lose them. Honor the agreements you make to employees.

Career Growth: leadership has 100% tunnel vision on clients and campaigns, and neglects to provide any career development for their hardworking, loyal employees who got the company to where it is today. They show no interest in encouraging employees to grow beyond their current state or pursue other internal opportunities. You either have to be close friends with your manager or fight tooth and nail to "create" a position and wade through a jungle of office politics if you expect to be promoted. The process will take 3 months and you'll take on additional projects and a heavier workload in the meantime to "prove" your worthy of a promotion (even though you've been busting your butt for the past [insert number of years]). Expect minimal career growth and a heavy workload, especially in account management.

Leadership Quality: title inflation is common with some of the managers here. They are too young and inexperienced to hold the responsibilities they do and dictate other people's careers. It's sort of like being in high school and the sophomore below you is the vice principal. Stop giving inflated titles to people who don't deserve it or don't have the experience to back it up. This leads to poor leadership quality and puts more strain and stress on the employees who end up taking on the additional burden. Employees have become resentful of their managers and the leadership team who turn a blind eye on what's really going on. Management seems to overlook their valuable employees and show no regard for loyalty.

Preferential Treatment: Favoritism and nepotism run rampant at MaxPoint. You must be close to the "inner circle" to make any sort of gains at this company. If you're good friends with the right people here, you're in luck! However, this isn't the case for most of the employees, and they're afraid to approach their managers for fear of punishment and condemnation. The account management leadership team is notorious for this type of behavior - they work their AM's to the max, which has led to low morale and some disgruntled workers on the verge of quitting. Management has been notified of these cases of unhappy employees, but keeps with the status quo and nothing changes. Communication is poor here and no one knows what's going on until something happens after the fact. The attitude here is to keep everything a secret and asking questions to the "inner" managers will result in condescending remarks.

The people here are amazing. They want you to be happy and they will work with you to find the role that is perfect for you.

Cons

There is still a start up aspect to it. This means that all of the good (changing work, cool new stuff), comes with the related bad (new bosses regularly, new processes and ever changing ideas of where things will be in 6 weeks).

Execs Very Disconnected:Executives could not be more disconnected from what is broken across the teams. They basically treat the Leader of Account Management as if she were their own child and can do no wrong. They have no clue how much damage this Leader's personal problems and manipulation are causing the entire Account Management team. I blame them for this. They should be experienced enough to not rely solely on the opinion of one person's horrible (biased) judgement. Other than going crazy on the Account Management and BA team a couple times a year for several days at a time, the Exec basically has nothing to do with anyone except his favorite "child", the Leader of Acct Management.

Account Management Problems, Thanks Mainly to the Leader of Acct Management.Account Management is basically handled under this person, who makes it all personal and very little business. If you desire to be promoted be sure to become her best friend. This is something another account manager did last year and within a one month time span (with only Teach for America experience) she was promoted to Supervisor of Small Agency (now called Regional). This supervisor has the never-ending ability to make anyone hate her, quit her team or MaxPoint as a whole. Don't bother going to the Leader with your concerns (since the two of them are BFFs) she always covers for the millions of mistakes and horrible things this supervisor does. Continuing down this path will definitely be detrimental to Account Management and MaxPoint as a whole or at least the quality of work produced.

NO Work-Life Balance:Also, if you expect to have a personal life, forget it. They overwork and underpay employees. With mediocre technology that the main exec likes to pretend can compete with the Googles and Amazons of the world. Please, save your breath and invest some time and money in your "proprietary technology".

Don't Expect Your Bonus:Also, It is a known fact that even if you anticipate getting paid a bonus, that MaxPoint has a written contract with you solidifying, chances are, they may not pay it. This past quarter one team who worked tirelessly to achieved their bonus. Maxpoint realized the bonuses were higher than they planned for, so instead of honoring their hardworking employees, I know for a fact, they decided not to pay ANY of their bonuses. The Owner himself told the employees to think of it as an "accidental bank credit that wasn't suppose to be yours." Um.....??? But an accidental bank credit and putting in time and hard work to achieve a bonus you have a contract outlining are not even remotely the same thing. Not to mention that is extremely rude, disrespectful, and unethical of the owner himself.

Bottom line is, if you have any self respect at all - save yourself the trouble and do not give MaxPoint a second thought.